FLIGHT 16 July 1954 83
THE AVRO 504
Historic Military Aircraft No. 8
IN the autumn of 1916 a new 504 variant was built for the R.F.C. This was the 504J, powered by the 100 h.p. Gnome Monosoupape engine, and more popularly known
to the R.F.C. as the Mono-Avro. The engine was installed in
the usual nose-bearing mounting, and the cowling was little
different from that of the other rotary-powered Avros. The
R.F.C.-pattern wings with short ailerons were fitted, and
there was no tail fin. As the supply of Mono-Gnomes
permitted, machines which had been ordered as 504As were
built as 504Js; production aircraft began to appear in 1917
and were issued to R.F.C. training aerodromes.
At the end of 1916, Major R. R. Smith-Barry was given com mand of No. 1 Reserve Squadron at Gosport. He had qualified
for his R.Ae.C. aviator's certificate (No. 161) on November 28th, 1911, and had gone to France with No. 5 Squadron in August
1914. After recovering from injuries sustained in the crash of a B.E.8 he had served at home as an instructor, and had flown at
night on anti-Zeppelin patrol. In July 1916 he was given com mand of No. 60 Squadron, and returned to England in tEg>
following December.
In his duties with No. 1 Reserve Squadron, Smith-Barry evolved an instructional technique which consisted largely of
demonstration and explanation. At that time so little was known about the reason's for an aeroplane's reactions to control move
ments that the Smith-Barry system was revolutionary in its approach, but soon proved its worth in the results it produced.
No. 1 Reserve Squadron acquired an enviable reputation and was known throughout the R.F.C. as a thoroughly efficient training
unit.
Major-General J. M. Salmond, who was then in command of Training Division, had given Major Smith-Barry a completely
free hand„ When the results proved to be so excellent, Maj-Gen. Salmond recommended that No. 1 Reserve Squadron be expanded
and developed as a School of Special Flying, with the main object of training instructors in order that the Smith-Barry system
might be spread throughout the R.F.C.'s training organization.
On this Avro 504]—
serial number C4451
—His Royal Highness
Prince Albert (later
King George VI)
learned to fly. His
late Majesty was, in
fact, receiving a /es-
son in the aircraft
when this photograph
was taken.
PART 2
This was done in August 1917 by tRV«iditjc£Uj£*W6T. 27 and 55 Training Squadrons.
The chosen instrument of the Gosport School was the Avro 504J, and Smith-Barry gave a salutory shock to the con
temporary philosophy of flying training by giving ab initio instruction on it. Up to that time opinions of the Avro had been
remarkably diverse: they varied from the one extreme of regard ing the aircraft as a dangerous, over-sensitive machine, to the
other of recognizing it as the delightful aeroplane it was. At all training stations, however, it had been regarded as an advanced
type to which pupils graduated after receiving elementary instruc tion on such types as Maurice Farman Longhorns and Shorthorns.
In its time and in relation to contemporary front-line types, the Avro 504J was very nearly ideal as a trainer. The controls were
light and powerful, and the machine's response to their use was both lively and positive. The sensitivity of the controls was a
great aid to the Smith-Barry doctrine of demonstration, and at the same time revealed pupils' faults immediately. The rotary engine
gave pupils a realistic foretaste of what they might expect on rotary-powered Service types; and the narrow track of the under
carriage permitted the demonstration of torque effect on take-off, for it revealed the Avro's tendency to swing. In this further
respect, therefore, pupils learned what was to be expected of scouts with higher-powered rotary engines. The fact that the
100 h.p. Mono-Gnome would continue to turn over freely when switched off enabled forced landings to be taught realistically, and
the engine was controlled by a single lever only.
The rate of climb was good enough to enable a useful height to be reached in a reasonable time, and the Avro could perform all
aerobatics known at that time. The Avro 504J deserves to be remembered as the aeroplane which made possible the R.A.F.'s
system of flying training, a system which, at its inception, was far ahead of any other method of instruction and which, but
little modified, remains in use today.
The exploits of the Gosport Avros in the hands of such pilots as Capt. Williams, Capt. Foote, Capt. Duncan Davis, and
Maj. Brearley have assumed a near-legendary quality which was
Parnall-built 504K, with
100 h.p. Gnome Mono
soupape engine.